More than 4,200 British households were asked to rank their internet service provider across in terms of quality and stability, download time, pricing and billing clarity, value for money, speed of service and after sales support, and Sky, the UK’s fastest growing broadband provider, beat the rest in all six categories.

“Sky have recently increased their advertising presence and set their prices and packages at a level that has attracted a large number of new customers,” explained Michael Phillips, Product Director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk. “It seems their approach is working.”

Although Sky broadband topped the polls, it was Talk Talk broadband that saw the greatest improvement in its ranking over the past six months, taking second place in every category.

“It’s nice to see Talk Talk’s service is improving, with users voting more positively for this ISP in most categories since February’s survey,” said Mr Phillips. “We look forward to seeing how these stats will develop in our next survey.”

The survey also revealed however, the disparity between the best and worst service has grown. “An area that does concern me is the increase in the satisfaction gap,” said Mr Phillips.

“ISPs should be competing fiercely not only to acquire customers but also to keep them happy and that means a better service across the board.”

The survey shows that over the past six months the gap between the top ISP and bottom ISP in each category is getting bigger, which means that while some broadband providers are clearly improving their satisfaction ratings, others are falling further behind.

“The low scores that we see for after sales support, when compared to other categories, demonstrates for the second time running that customers feel neglected after they have signed on the dotted line,” said Mr Phillips.

However, one thing that was surprising was customers’ feelings towards value for money. With the credit crunch biting harder, BroadbandChoices.co.uk had expected a ‘significant decrease’ the number of users who felt they were getting a good deal, but the difference was less than one per cent.

“It’s true to say that internet access is cheaper than ever before as bundled deals become the norm, offering excellent value for consumers,” said Mr Phillips, “however, households can still save money. ISPs announce new deals all the time and any household that hasn’t looked at what else is on offer for a year or more may find that they can make significant savings on their annual cost of broadband if they switch to another provider.

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